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Criminal Justice at PLU

Students interested in pursuing careers related to criminal justice will find the Department of Sociology an ideal academic home. Each year, about one-third of our graduating seniors intend to pursue work in law, law enforcement, or other criminal justice fields.

While some universities offer stand-alone majors in Criminal Justice, the law enforcement agencies we work most closely with in Pierce County have informed us that they prefer to hire students with more well-rounded academic backgrounds in Sociology or other fields. Law enforcement agencies want to teach new recruits the nuts of bolts of criminal justice work in their own academies, rather than having new employees show up with information that doesn’t transfer to the particularities of their agency. At the same time, criminal justice employers value the analytical and research background Sociology majors bring to their work, including an ability to conduct program evaluation.

Coursework

Students majoring in Sociology can tailor their studies to include up to 20 credits of criminal justice-related electives.

Internship

One of the hallmarks of the PLU Sociology program is our inclusion of an internship as an elective course. Students are not required to participate in an internship, but we strongly encourage it.

Examples of internship placements for students interested in criminal justice work include:

Pierce County Sherriff

Pierce County Juvenile Court

Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center

Washington Correctional Center for Women

Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration

Department of Licensing Criminal Investigations Unit

The PLU Sociology department helped me find my passion for criminal justice through various classes that touched on issues of crime, as well as through an internship with a probation department. In my senior year, the professors in the PLU Sociology department helped me find and apply for a Masters of Arts in Criminal Justice program.

Without the background in sociology that I gained at PLU, I would not be where I am today: working for the Seattle Police Department as a research analyst.